“Dudes, that sun is gonna be gone in like six minutes…….and I’m not even sure we’re looking at the right gully to get us off this thing. Get yer headlamps on….gimme both the ropes….either of you ever bivvied above thirteen thou….?”

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REWIND. 72 hours prior. Still in Fresno.

“Jett, I just got off the phone with Kal. When I asked him ‘what’s your fitness level for this climb man? You wanna hear what he said?”

“Zero fitness man.”

Zero fitness. That’s what I’m working with here on a serrated ridge on Mt. Emerson’s Southeast face. Every year since 1994, my two best friends from childhood and I gather for what we call a Tri-Pole Expedition. Years ago we founded a three man exclusive alpine club called Tri-Pole Expeditions based on the fact that we each have Polish heritage. Our earliest summit flag was a hand drawn cartoon of a gnarled fist clutching thee ski poles with the motto “Thee Poles are Better than Two.” Over the years we’ve paid dues, written by-laws and had our emblem embroidered on hats, mugs, t-shirts, neckties and polo shirts. Over the past 19 years we’ve climbed Cascade Volcanoes, paddled the open ocean and sat on some really nice summits.

But the years have caught up with the group. Jason is now a venture capitalist in Southern California and Kal is an insurance salesman in Fresno who’s a tad heavier than his college climbing and rugby days at Western Washington U. We’ve bagged a couple class III summits and caught some nice fish in the last few years, but recent trips have been more about a short hike and nice meals than steep cracks and snowy cornices. I still climb a lot for a pedestrian dad and small business owner, but since blowing up my knee on Lurking Fear last Spring, I haven’t done much other than a couple longish rock routes. Close to the road. Add Kal’s “zero fitness” to his propensity to pack large amounts of red meat and scotch on his alpine trips and there will be nothing fast or light about this year’s climb.

According to Supertopo

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MT. EMERSON Southeast Ridge 5.4
Four Stars
Avg time to climb route: 2-4 hours
Approach time: 45 minutes - 1.5 hours
"With a breathtaking summit view of many surrounding Sierra Peaks, Mount Emerson (13,204’) is an easy-to-access peak just outside the town of Bishop. It is a rare, enjoyable Sierra peak that can be completed quickly. With a short approach and straightforward, easy climbing, the Southeast Face can be done in a half day by soloists, or a short but full day for teams roping up. It is similar to Laurel Mountain, but even higher quality climbing. "

Short Approach. Nice Ridge. Right up our alley.

“We’ll probably knock that thing off by mid day and be fishin in the stream by lunchtime. Its gonna be light duty up there boys.”

Thanks to the imbecilic Govenrnmental shutdown, we are forced to take the southern route to the East Side. We’ll pick up Jason in lovely downtown Mojave. There will be no idyllic drive through Tioga Pass in the Fall. Kal is depressed about having to drive the long way and finds his way into the Scotch by 9:40am. “Down down down…down into my belly….scotch scotch scotch…mm mm mm.”

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We make it to Mojave with only minimal hassle and pick up Jason who is in a foul mood cause we’re making him leave his precious little Prius in a truck stop parking lot with about a 90% chance of vandalism in the next 72 hours.

Kal relieves a bit of the Scotch he had for breakfast on the way down. He never really figured out why he was dehydrated for most of this trip.

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

But soon we are barrelin up the eastside…..where dreams are made…where the air fills your lungs with spicy sage promise and you get that deep feeling of adventure in your gut.

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We arrive at the North Lake Parking area to find a low budge governmental word doc pasted on the gate that says, “Due to the recent governmental shut down, this gate is to remain locked until further notice.”

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“Those dirty mother f%*#kers…” says Kal. You know what this means….it means, ‘We are so fu%*@ing selfish and lousy at our jobs that you sorry bas#@%ds have to walk another ¾ of a mile.’ Don’t they know I’m really not in that kind of shape.” Thanks Obama.

Kal calms down and soon we are swallowed by the brilliant colors of Fall on the East side. Yellows and reds and golds explode from around every corner. The forest is on fire.

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

Kal plugs along well, considering his pack holds steaks for the first night, three kinds of Scotch, cigars, and an iron skillet for cooking eggs and hash on our last morning.

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

We round a bend just past the ruddy Paiute crags and Mt. Emerson comes into view. It’s a handsome peak and our route can be clearly seen as the deep chimney and crack system to the right of center.

The route goes up the black chimney, hangs a left past the sunlit tower in the middle of the photo, then shoots up toward and through the notch just right of the visible high point.

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

“Yeah, its probably an hour or two up to that notch….then a bit on the ridge then to the summy. Good call Jett, this little climb is just what we needed. Did you guys pack mainly coachmen or caddis for that creek? I’m catchin us dinner after the climb.”

We make camp just past Loch Leven.

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Kal makes an “F-The Gubmint” camp fire from a nice stack of firewood chopped and left at a fire ring by some deer hunters we passed on the way up. Its good to be up in the hills with my boys.

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

We dine like champions on cubes of ribeye topped with Bleu Cheese that would make you slap your mamma. Full on five star at 10,784. A couple nips of the Macallan 20 for hydration and its off to bed.

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Day 2
We’re up and gunning by sunrise and we’re sitting at the base by 8:30am.

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We are alone on the route and the sun is warming the rock as I start up the first pitch.

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I actually thought it was kinda huffy and puffy and steeper than I was expecting. I’m calling it closer to 5.5c than 5.4.

I’m a bit worried about Kal as I set up the first belay. He and Jason stayed up last night suckling on the Glenlivet 15. And this morning, I think I caught the two taking a quick nip off the Balvenie. But once on the rock, the boy moves like a granite dancer, borne aloft by the spirit of adventure that still lives deep within him. With a “just like ridin a bike”, he pops his head over a bulge and arrives at the belay.

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

It feels so good to be back on a rope with these guys. Its really the first time we’ve been on technical ground together in nearly a decade. Its all smiles and high fives at the first belay. We’re doin it.

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We let a two man, guided team pass us and then we’re alone for the rest of the day. The route winds up some nice terrain, staying in the main crack for about 800 feet or so.

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

We cross left behind the biggest pinnacle on the ridge and un-rope for a long slog up a steep gully. We’ve been moving pretty non stop, but somehow the hours are slipping by.

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

Its now noon, but the stoke is high and everybody feels great. We keep aiming for the notch in the skyline.

The notch. The knifedge ridge begins here.

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Reaching the notch feels like success…..but the sight ahead gives me that “oh man we still have a long way to go” pit in my belly.

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2:00pm Air on all sides. We’re at least at 12 thou. An island in the sky. Roping up again. “Committed boys. Commited”

The first pitch feels full on Eiger. Little snow patches remind me that its October……..”what time does it get dark in October anyway?” I wonder aloud.

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I break into the sunshine and the world simply falls away beneath us.

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Its a splendid, textbook High Sierra ridge. Razor sharp and it looks like it goes forever. The temp is perfect. Steep, jagged gendarmes dot the skyline but they will fall to our bravery, speed and efficiency today. Tri-Pole is in the house. My fellas are climbing like champs and each of us knows we’re going to the summit today. Even if it means going home in the dark.

I’ll let the photos tell the story for a bit.

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

Soooo….its now like 5:00. We’ve been going for nine hours and the the summit still looks a long way off. I’m feelin the altitude and I’m starting to think a bivy in October would be a big drag. And I’m getting kinda bossy with the guys.
“hey…holler ‘that’s me’ when the slack runs out guys. Its killin me tugging all day on two ropes….”

“Hey, make sure you guys are ready to roll as soon as I’m off belay….its gonna get dark on us if we’re not dialed it at these belays…”

“Hey…..Why does this water taste like Scotch? Seriously Kal?”

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We charge on. Like hunted animals. The darkness is on our heels. We can smell it. We hit the ten hour mark and the sky starts to go golden. “Mt. Emerson Southeast Ridge 2-4 hours keeps running though my head. But Wow…..look at these colors. This is why men climb mountains.

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

Mt. Darwin looms in the distance. We went there in 99 but came up short. We’re basically pin high with the summits of the Evolution Group. I could reach out and touch Huxley, Warlow and Mendel.

Pure magic. This shot adorns my computer screen at work and it takes me there in an instant.

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With a “hoooweee!” I turn a corner and see the summit, 20 feet away. The rock all around me glows a warm orange like a kitchen hot plate heated by the very core of the earth. I have never been this high, this far from home, with the sun just centimeters off the horizon. And for a moment I just don’t care.

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

Jason tags the top spot and I start barking orders.
Headlamps? Check. Lemme coil those ropes. Climbing shoes off guys. Gimme my shell. How much water do we have?
Kal is on the phone talking to his wife. “Get off the freakin’ phone man! I mean it. Oh…..Hi Micshel……Kal’s doin just fine…..can You tell Kristie we’re on the summit….awesome, thanks…..see you when we get back.”

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We snap a couple shots to timestamp the hour in case SAR needs to piece together a timeframe when we go missing tomorrow, then head due west down the first chute on our left.

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Within minutes we’re in full on battlestations mode.

Credit: micronut

Credit: micronut

We’re calm and collected, but the vibe is tense as we pick our way down unfamiliar steep terrain without a rope on. Kal leads the way. He’s got his mountain chi on and is in full on alpine mode….”like ridin’ a bike boys….like ridin’ a bike.”

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We’re out of water now. Three dudes in their own world….working down a chute….three orbs of light high on a mountain in late Fall.

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We talk little, but we’re diggin’ being in survival mode together for the first time in a long time.

Somewhere in the 13th hour. Swallowing feels like gravel in the throat but there's nowhere I'd rather be.

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The gully goes on and on and on, but the dreaded "cliff out" never really happens. The steep ground begins to fan into a scree field, and Kal eventually sniffs out a hint of a trail in the base of the chute……we’ll be back at camp within a few minutes.

Three stumbling idiots stagger back into camp almost fouteen hours after setting out. The guys go pump water and a crackling, illegal fire is waiting when they return. Its our way of stickin it to the man and it feels really good.

Credit: micronut

The reality of THIRTEEN hours sinks in.
Thirteen? Really? Are we that lame? El Cap gets climbed in less than that on most weekends. Jim Herson and his gradeschool kids could have done our route twice by now, and they would've been in school shoes and Hello Kitty backpacks. Thirteen Hours....You can fly from Fresno to Hong Kong in twelve.

But with the fire snapping and popping while we fill our bellies with warm food and the stars beaming overhead like fans cheering victors in a sports arena, we don't seem to care how long it took us. We got to spend a full value day high in the alpine crucible, going for broke right off the couch.......and would you rather spend 2-4 hours doing what you love or a whole day? I think the answer is easy. Some times the slow way is the best way.

Just a side note to a great TR, but you would have had to park at North Lake even if the government was open. The trail head is in the campground, but you can't park there. Blaming Obama is a bit silly.

Wood fire above 10,500? Sorry to be a scold, just things to think about. There isn't much wood up there and a lot of people.

Tom,
I hear ya on the fire. But that wood had definitely been chopped and stacked and brought in on some pack mules from somewhere else. We passed a six man and six beast pack train that had four fresh killed bucks in tow. Our guess was that those grizzly Adams fellas left the wood. I would never collect wood above ten thou. The pile was begging to be burned though. We dismantled the ring and scattered the remaining wood. We're typically leave no trace kinda guys.

Funny, I think I've heard about this scenario unfolding on that route a number of times. Whenever I do it, I'll take that 2-4 hour time frame to the top with a grain of salt (sand?). You did good avoiding a forced bivy.

Please note that I explained that the wood was chopped and stacked by some horsemen/hunters who were in the area. It was big old stuff that was in a nice pile by a big ring. It may even have been brought in. I'm not one to scavenge wood above ten thou. See the above posts. Glad you liked the write up though.

First, may I say I've been there----way back in 1975 on the East Ridge of Bugaboo Spire. We just kept going and had a hut-to-hut adventure that started at 4:00 A.M. & ended at 2:00 A.M.

We whinned about everything being covered with ice from a thunderstorm the day before, route-finding, and a stuck-rope, and then out friends followed a guided party up the E. Ridge the next day and did it in 10 hours hut to hut.

Unfortunately we had no steak or fine-scotch along.

So------HUGE CONGRATS for a big-adventure, and your willingness to share it. Great fun to read!

Thank you for taking the time to post all those fun photos-----and I commend the fire.

It reminds of one time when a friend and I went to the Black Canyon to do this grade V 5.hard. We decided to go via the scenic way from Boulder but still get groceries in Gunnison Friday night. We arrived at the grocery 3 minutes after they closed. Undeterred we charged ahead and had a breakfast consisting of 1 lb of bacon (only food we had). Went down what we thought was the correct gully only to reach the river (2000 ft below) and not seeing our line. We drank what little water we brought and went back to the V.C. to look at a map (2000ft back up). The ranger was sympathetic to our (my partner's really) desires to climb this monster and drove us to the correct gully and down we went. We succeeded and topped out right about the right time but jeezus! We got back to camp hours from any food joint open (we had no food). This cool group next to us had a fire rolling and made us steaks as long as we told them the story of why we looked the way we did. They were climbers too but we somehow looked more disheveled than they. I have no pictures but will never forget that experience. It was awesome!!!

Great TR, MN. I had a virtually identical experience on the East Face of Whitney. 3 older guys and we didn't know when to simulclimb/solo so we pitched everything out. We got back to Iceberg Lake in the wee hours of the morning. We were planning to stick around for a couple of days to do the East Buttress, and maybe the Fishhook, but the next day we got caught in a 20 year thunderstorm. It looked like the monsoon weather would continue, so we hightailed it back to the car on washed out trails. Great memories.

It's strange how we still want to snap pictures of the day fading away, even when we know we need to start hoofin'. Same thing happened to me on a route in Chamonix recently, and we had a longer, harder, more dangerous mountain to descend than Emerson (which included mixed terrain on spots). But I couldn't resist taking pictures of the setting sun and the sunset silhouetting the Midi station regardless.

Going up a long, exposed face with a few people that do not do technical climbing is pretty ballsy! Well done. Doesn't matter about the time as long as you got down in one piece. I did this one earlier this summer and had fun.

I'm Bummed by the fire too. Even though the wood "may" have been carried in, you are still encouraging others to make fires by blackening those rocks. I'm saying this from experience as a Wilderness Ranger. You guys lost a lot of points in my book. Just as bad as Joe Kinder. I sure hope you completely removed that fire ring.

Adamame. We had a nice little fire, with wood chopped and stacked by a massive pack outfit before us. A large, pre-existing ring.....one of five or six near that lake, that we dismantled after using. Though the twelve foot long, three foot around "benches" around the campfire that seem to have been there since the Clyde Expedition will probably stay there for many years to come. Our impact was light indeed and hopefully my actions do not encourage others to do the same.

Sorry a few scattered, blackened rocks are bumming you out. I agree, not a good example. But we did pack out existing trash from alongside the lake. And I pulled some nails from a nearby Aspen that had been used to hang stuff for years. I'm an ardent protector of our wild lands and advocate for our High Sierra. In a moment of weakness we enjoyed a crackling, warm high country fire in the company of the stars above. From here on out, I will strive to do as I've done since my childhood when wandering in the hills above ten thou. Take only pictures...leave only footprints.

Chris Mac's the one you should be harshin' on. It was his book that led me to the mountain. I had never heard of it until I bought the new High Sierra Guide. See what these devil guides do!

Thanks for all the other encouraging posts everybody. It makes doing these reports worth while. Emerson really is a nice peak. I can't believe it hadn't come on my radar befor recently. I saw it in CMac's new High Sierra Guide. Thanks Chris! Its definitely a goodn!

well, I'm 0 for 2 on this classic, keep getting lost quite near to the summit. Too far left, and not much day left. And both times got cliffed out at the very bottom of those 2,000' gullies. Last time my headlamp quit, just as I completed the final 5th moves to the talus. Crossing Paiute Ck on those logs in the dark is fun...

Altitude can has a considerable effect on speed and you don't even realize it. Feel like you're moving at a good clip, and then look at your watch and its been 2 hours and not the 15 minutes you thought had passed.